rumble

• rummle, rommle (dialectal)

From Middle English rumblen, romblen, rummelyn, frequentative form of romen (“to roar”), equivalent to rome +‎ -le. Cognate with Dutch rommelen (“to rumble”), Low German rummeln (“to rumble”), German rumpeln (“to be noisy”), Danish rumle (“to rumble”), all of imitative origin.

• (British, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌmb(ə)l/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmbəl

rumble (plural rumbles)

the sound of the rumble of thunder

1. A low, heavy, continuous sound, such as that of thunder or a hungry stomach.

   The rumble from passing trucks made it hard to sleep at night.

2. (slang) A street fight or brawl.
3. A rotating cask or box in which small articles are smoothed or polished by friction against each other.
4. (dated) A seat for servants, behind the body of a carriage.
   • 1840-1841, Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock:

     Kit, well wrapped, […] was in the rumble behind.

   • 1838 (date written), L E L[andon], chapter I, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. , volume I, London: Henry Colburn, , published 1842, →OCLC, page 2:

     "I never was so sorry for any thing as for Mr. Glentworth's death," said Isabella Granard, endeavouring to screen her face from a small, sharp rain, to which her place in the rumble of a travelling carriage left her quite exposed.

rumble (third-person singular simple present rumbles, present participle rumbling, simple past and past participle rumbled)

1. (intransitive) To make a low, heavy, continuous sound.

   If I don't eat, my stomach will rumble.

   I could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance.

2. (transitive) To discover deceitful or underhanded behaviour.

   The police is going to rumble your hideout.

3. (intransitive) To move while making a rumbling noise.

   The truck rumbled over the rough road.

   • 1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, page 8:

     As the train rumbled slowly over the Forth Bridge, the western sky was aflame with a particularly gorgeous sunset, and lights were twinkling from the small craft riding at anchor on the calm waters of the firth.

   • 2021 March 7, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in The Guardian‎:

     Henderson, beginning a mini-run in the team with David de Gea on paternity leave, threw out to the left flank and Shaw had only one thought – to rumble upfield.

4. (slang, intransitive) To fight; to brawl.
5. (video games, intransitive, of a game controller) To provide haptic feedback by vibrating.
6. (transitive) To cause to pass through a rumble, or polishing machine.
7. (obsolete, intransitive) To murmur; to ripple.
   • c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, “The Tears of the Muses”, in Complaints‎, published 1591:

     The trembling streams which wont in channels clear
     To rumble gently down with murmur soft, […]

rumble

1. An onomatopoeia describing a rumbling noise

• Blumer, Bulmer, lumber, umbrel